The invention relates to a method for providing traffic status information, a system for transmitting traffic status information, a device in a vehicle for generating and sending traffic status information and a computer program product for use in a motor vehicle and for generating and sending traffic status information.
Known vehicles send so-called “floating car data” (FCD). The system used for this purpose consists of a GPS receiver and a GSM module. Both modules are already present in many vehicles even without FCD functionality. The GPS receiver measures the position and the FCD methods determine the travel times of the vehicle from a multitude of such position data. These travel times are sent like a string of beads (individual points on the trip route with position coordinates and equipped with a time stamp) to central traffic information offices via a GSM network. These offices can draw inferences regarding the traffic situation from these travel times. This allows data acquisition of traffic status information for traffic information services.
Data transmission via the GSM network is associated with a high cost.
In the future, FCD will be developed into XFCD (extended floating car data) to make the acquisition of traffic position data more accurate and also to provide information about the weather, road condition and local hazards. XFCD uses the various sensors and subsystems present in the vehicle, which are already making their data available on central data buses in the vehicle. Analysis of the various data en route can provide information about traffic conditions, impaired visual conditions, road conditions (roadway surfaces), infrastructural conditions (winding roads), local hazards, rainfall, slippery road conditions and skidding hazards.
The object of this invention is in particular a method for providing high quality traffic status information at an acceptable cost.
An aspect of the present invention for providing traffic status information as part of a traffic status detection by a motor vehicle, in particular traffic status information for ascertaining the traffic situation, which may include traffic status information for detecting congested traffic, consists of verifying in a first step whether the vehicle is currently participating in public road traffic, verifying in a second step whether the vehicle has been operated otherwise for more than a predetermined period of time and, if necessary, interrupting the traffic status detection in a third step.
The inventive verification prevents vehicles from inadvertently triggering a false traffic jam alarm in the sense of detection of congested traffic, because they are not participating in public road traffic in the usual way. This increases the acceptance for utilizing the inventive method owing to the increased reliability and saves on the expense of transmitting false congestion reports from a vehicle to a corresponding institution which reconstructs and reports the traffic situation, in particular a central traffic information office. The expense involved is, for example, the cost of corresponding SMS messages (Short Message Service) or the cost of transmission of messages otherwise.
Through this method, in particular for providing traffic status information for detecting traffic congestion, it is possible for the first time to reliably detect a traffic event and/or to transmit the traffic event as a given condition only if it is actually occurring, i.e., the inventive method permits an event-oriented generation of traffic status information. In contrast with the known method, traffic status information is transmitted only when the traffic status detected, e.g., a traffic jam, prompts it. Thus, the data traffic and therefore the cost of data acquisition are greatly reduced without any loss of quality of the traffic status information.
Instead, the inventive method for the first time permits an inexpensive and nevertheless almost real time data acquisition for the entire roadway system, in particular on highways, country roads and city roads.
Alternatively or additionally, according to one embodiment of this invention, a verification is performed to determine whether a door of the vehicle has been opened and/or whether a so-called point of interest is near the vehicle and/or whether there is a high steering activity of the vehicle and/or whether the reverse gear and/or the neutral gear of the vehicle has been engaged and/or whether the vehicle is moving off-road and/or whether the parking brake has been activated and/or whether the airbag has been deployed, and if at least one of these events has occurred, a counter, i.e., a timer runs, ascertaining the sense when at least one of these events has occurred without interruption and then it supplies a corresponding counter reading.
The data, i.e., bus telegrams indicating these events are usually supplied by the known SSI (Standard Sensor Interface) of the vehicle. Through the inventive choice of the aforementioned events, it is possible to recognize reliably whether the vehicle is currently participating in public road traffic. If a door of the vehicle has been opened, it may be assumed that a person is getting out of the vehicle and the vehicle has stopped for this purpose and therefore is no longer a part of the flowing traffic. If there is a high steering activity with large steering angles and a low speed, then it is assumed that the vehicle is being parked. If the reverse gear has been engaged, this is presumably also a parking maneuver. Likewise, if the vehicle is traveling off-road, if the airbag has been deployed or if the parking brake has been activated, then it may be assumed that the vehicle is not involved in public road traffic. Data from the digital map of a navigation system provides information regarding whether the vehicle is traveling on a public road at all or whether it is in a large parking lot, for example, a rest stop or a gas station.
To prevent misinterpretation of these events, the method according to this invention involves verifying whether these events persist without interruption for a certain period of time. For each event, a period of time assigned to it may be provided for monitoring. Through the use of such empirical values, the reliability of the detection of whether the vehicle is currently participating in public traffic is presumably further increased. Likewise, several events can be linked together by “AND” or “OR” operations to ascertain whether the vehicle is participating in public traffic.
Alternatively or additionally, in another embodiment of this invention, the counter reading on the counter is compared with a predetermined value and if it falls below a predetermined first value, the traffic status detection is suspended while retaining the previous results of the traffic status detection.
Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment of this invention, the counter reading on the counter is compared with the predetermined first value and if the first value is exceeded or another predetermined value is exceeded, the traffic status detection is restarted and the previous results of the traffic status detection are deleted.
These measures are based on the finding that previous data of the traffic status detection permits reliable statements regarding the existence of a traffic jam only if the situation has not changed fundamentally. According to this invention, it is proposed accordingly that the previous data of the traffic state detection should no longer be used for ascertaining a traffic jam, if in the meantime circumstances suggesting that the vehicle is no longer participating in traffic in the usual manner have been detected for an extended period of time.
Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment of this invention the counter reading on the counter is reset at the value “0,” if the determination as to whether the vehicle is being operated otherwise has turned out negative.
Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment of this invention, the traffic status detection is continued if the determination of whether the vehicle is being operated otherwise has turned out negative.
These inventive measures achieve the result that if there is no longer any indication that the vehicle is not participating in public traffic, the traffic status detection is immediately resumed.
The inventive method for acquiring data also permits an advantageous system for transmitting traffic status information from a first vehicle to a second vehicle, in particular via an ad hoc network or from a central traffic information office to one or more vehicles, optionally modified, in particular by broadcast. It is likewise possible for an advantageous device and a computer program product to be used in a motor vehicle for generating and transmitting traffic status information.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.